Liquid-valve.



PAUL CROVO, OF CARLSTADT, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO BEVERAGE MACHINE AND BOTTLE CO., INCORPORATED, OENEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

LIQUID-V'ALVEI.V

Leganes'.

Specification of Letters Patent. l

Patented Apr. 17, 1917.

Application filed October 7, 1915. Serial No; 54,635.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that 1, PAUL Cnovo, a subject of the King of italy, residing at Carlstadt, in the county of Bergen, in the State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Liquid-Valves, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

In Letters Patent N o. 1171356, dated February 8, 1916, granted to Philip Saulson, for filling machine, there is shown and described a machine for filling bottles, siphons and other receptacles with any liquid, whether charged with gas or not, under pressure and out of contact with atmospheric air.l Embodied in said machine areV shown devices for introducing into each receptacle a measured quantity of syrup or eX- tract to be mixed in the receptacle with the main body of the liquid with which it is filled. In carrying out the successive operations in said machine, there were provided two or more valves which were deemed to be necessary to control, respectively, the How of liquidv into and from the measuring vessel provided therefor, the How of syrup into and from its measuring vessel, and the in troduction of gas into each of these receptacles for the purpose of forcing the liquids therefrom into the Siphon to be filled. The present invention has for its object to provide a liquid valve which shall be especially useful in connection with a machine of the general character referred to and which shall be of such construction as to take care of the several' operations referred to briefly above and' insure the proper sequence of such operations under all conditions of use. By means of the improved valve it becomes unnecessary to emplo-y the several valves shown in the copending case referred to and, accordingly, the liability to damage or derangement of the filling machine is decreased to that extent. and the cost thereof is lessened in proportion to the number of parts eliminated. .The improved valve embodies the further advantages of cheapness of cost, simplicity of construction, certainty of operation, ease of assembling and disassembling, and freedom from leakage. The invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a viewv partly in side elevation and partly in section of the improved valve.

Fig. 2 is a view in transverse section taken therethrough on the plane indicated by the line 2 2 of Fig. l and looking in the direction of the arrows. Y l

Fig. 3 is a view in transverse section taken through the valve shown in Fig. l along the plane indicated by the linel-S and looking inthe direction of the arrows.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view in elevation of so muchof the valve as is shown in verv tical section in Fig. 1.

TWhile particular reference has been made in the preamble tothe use of the improved valve in a machine such as isillustrated in the copending application above identified,

it will be understood as this description proceeds that the invention is not to be limited to the use of the valve. in a machine of this identical character inasmuch as Wide changes in the construction of such machine may be made .without changing the mode of operation of the valve. However, it will be f helpful to describe the improved valve in connection with said machine inasmuch as many of its advantages maybe best illustrated in connection with a. description of its operation in connection with .the machine.

The improved valve a is generally of the plug type being of tapered form and disposed rotatably withina conical casing o in such manneras to be self-grinding, as will appear later. 1 The stem a of the valve eX- tends through the end wall b ofthe valve casing b' andv is slotted, as at a2,'to receive adjustable abutment devices to be described,

fora spring c by'which the valve is main-y tained in snug engagement with the inner wall of the casing. Thevrearwall b of the casing Z; carries, or has formed integral therewith, an annular flange b2 which receives a circular wear plate d on which run balls e which may be maintained in proper mutual yrelationship by a ball cage of any approved form. These balls are hel against the face of the wear plate ol by means of a ring washer g on which seats the spring c. The other end of the spring'c abuts against a ring L through which the lstem a of the valve a extends loosely and the ring is engaged, in turn, by a diametrically disposed block z' which extends through the slot a2 inv By reason of the'valve stem a and is guided thereby. rlChe position ofthe block c' within the slot a2 may be determined by an adjustable thumb screw which is disposed in the end of the valve stem a. From the description given, it will be evident that by suitable adjustment of the thumb screw 7c the tension of the spring o may be adjusted, thereby permitting the ready determination of the degree of friction between the valve a and its casing b. the disposition of the balls e, whereby an anti-friction bearing for `the end of the valve is provided, the degree of friction between the circumferential face of the valve and the conical wall of the casing Z) is the measure of the force required to rotate the valve within the casing. rlhe desirability ef providing for the adjustment of the tension of the spring c will be evident when the different conditions of use of the valve are taken into account. For instance, the greater the pressure of the fluid passing through the valve, the more necessary it is that the engagement between the valve and the valvel casingbe absolutely tight.

As brought out clearly in Figs. 2 and 3 the improved valve is provided with two sepa rate lsets of passages therein and the valve casing has two separate sets of liquid pipes communicating therewith and adapted to be placed in communication with one another, respectively, by the said passages, through proper manipulation of the valve. To illustrate, it may be supposed that the valve is to be used in a filling machine of lthe type described in the copending case referred to. In this machine, there is, roughly speaking, a carbonated water supply, a measuring tank for this water, a main syrup tank, a measuring tank for thesyrup, a main gas supply and the bottle to be `filled. ln the operation of this machine, a predetermined quantity of carbonated water flows from the vater snp ply into the measuring tank at the s; me timel that the syrup inthe syrup measuring tank flows into the bottle. The inflow of water into its measuring tank displaces gas within the tank and forces it into the syrup measuring tank where it does useful work in forcing the syrup into the bottle. rlihe syrup Y. having been introduced into the bottle and the appropriate quantity of water having been permitted to iiow into the water measuring tank, it becomes necessary tolchange the connections so that the predetermined quantity vof water will flow into the bottle under pressure of gas, and the empty measuring tank for the syrup will be replenished. During these operations, the main gas supply is connected directly to the measuring tank of the water and the measuring tank for syrup is disconnected from the bottle. The operations outlined herein have Vheretofore been controlled by two or more valves, each one of which has been adapted to control only one or perhaps two of the operations. rlhe improved valve is of suc; construction as to enable it to perform al of the functions of the several valves hereto` fore employed and permit it to have con nected therewith the several liquid and gas pipes by which the several fluids .ire conn ducted, in proper sequence, to the intended receptacles therefor. From Figs. l and Q it will be seen that the valveV casing Z) has formed adjacent to one end a circumferential series of ports 53,7%, b5, 5G and '67 ywith which communicate pipes Z, Z, Z2, Z3 and Z* which lead to the carbonated water supply, the syrup tank, the syrup measuring device, the bottle and the watermeasuring device respectively. The ports referred to, live in number, are preferably placed at equidistant points along the circumference ofthe valve casing b, making them, in the illustrated embodiment, about 72 apart. rfhe yalve a has two channels Z3 and at formed therein, the legs of which subtend angles of about T20 each on the circumference of the valve to permit the ends of such passages to be brought into registration with adjacent ports of the valve casing, as appears clearly in Fig. 2.

Adjacent the other end of the valvecasing is formed a circumferential series of ports bs, 2) and Z110 which communicate with pipes Z5, Z6 and Z7, which are connected to the main gas supply, the gas connection te the water measuring device and the gas connection to the syrup measuring device respectively. These three ports are preferably placed about the circumference of the valve a 72 from one another', when measured in one direction. rihe valve a is provided at this end with a single passage a5, the ends of which may be brought into registry with the Yports S and bo or with the ports 69 and Z910. rllie valve c may be rotated in its housing by means of a handle fm, fixed on a stem ZG which extends from the end of the valve. in the improved machine shown in the copending case ref ferred to, rotation of the valve may be controlled automatically, but for the purpose of this description it will be suiiieient to assume that the valve is manipulated manually. ln operation, assuming that the wat measuring tank is filled and that the syrup from the syrup measuring tank has been emptied `into the bottle, the valve may Y `{"otated to the position shown in Figs. 2 and 3 i' in which the .water measuring device is mitted to run into the measuring tank.

Z5 and the gas connection to the water meas'- uring device Z6. At this time the carbonated water supply is cut off as is the gas connection to the syrup measuring device. When the valve is moved counter clockwise through an angle of about 72 the carbonated water supply Z will be placed in communication with the water measuring device through the valve passage at so that the water is prmultaneously, the syrup is permitted to run `from the syrup measuring tank into the bottle, through the valve passage c3. The water flowing into the measuring tank then forces the gas from the tank into the top of the syrup measuring tank through the valve passage a5 which spans the ports b9 and b1". The gas flowing into the syrup measuring tank serves to force the syrup therefrom into the bottle.

The improved valve as described not only fulfils all of the functions heretofore derived from the use of two or more valves and permits a single and simultaneous control of the various operations, thereby insuring the desired sequence thereof, but possesses many structural advantages as regards the cost, simplicity, etc. For instance, the valve shown in Fig. l may be readily removed from its housing by slipping the block e' out of engagement with the abutment ring and then withdrawing the valve axially from the housing. At this time the spring c and the associated parts are also withdrawn. rlhe replacement of the valve and positioning of the elements is effected with equal facility. The conical form of the valve with the constant axial pressure exerted thereon by the spring insures a tight union between the valve and the valve casing and further re-l sults in a constant self-grinding during rotation.

The scope of the invention is pointed out more particularly in the appended claims.

1 claim as my invention:

1. A liquid valve comprising a casing, a plug mounted rotatably therein, a series of live ports spaced along the circumference of the casing, two passages formed in the plug to register with pairs of the ports, respectively, an independent series of three ports formed at another part of the circumference of the casing, and a separate single passage formed in the plug to register with pairs of these last named ports, respectively, whereby upon rotation of the plug four of the first named ports and two of the last named ports are placed in communication, as required.

2. A liquid valve for use in a machine for filling bottles with liquid under pressure, comprising a casing, a plug mounted rotatably therein, a series of live ports spaced along the circumference of the casing and communicating respectively with a water supply, a water measuring device, a syrup supply, a syrup measuring device and the bottle to be lilled, two passages formed in the plug to register with pairs of the ports, respectively, an independent series of three ports formed at another part of the circumference of the casing and communicating, respectively, with the main gas supply, the gas connection'to the water measuring device and the gas connection to the syrup measuring device, and a separate single passage formed in the plug to register with pairs of these last named ports, respectively, whereby the plug in two positions only controls all of the operations for filling.

3. A liquid valve comprising a tapered casing, a conical plug mounted rotatably therein, a series of five ports spaced at equidistant points along the circumference of the casing 720 from one another, two curved passages formed in the plug, each of which subtends a worm of 72 and both of which are adapted to register with pairs of ports, respectively, an independent series of three ports formed at another part of the circumference of the casing at points 720 apart,

measured in one direction, and a separate single curved passage formed in the plug and subtending a worm of 72 and adapted to register withy pairs of the last named ports, respectively, whereby when the valve is in one position, four of the first named ports l and two of the last named ports are placed in communication, and when the valve is rotated through an angle of 720, four other of the first named ports and two other of the last named ports are placed in communication.

4. A liquid valve comprising a tapered casing, a conical plug, a valve stem extending through the end wall of the casing and slotted, a spring engaging the stem operatively to hold the plug snugly within the casing and an adjustable abutment for the spring disposed in the slot and guided thereby.

5. A liquid valve ycomprising a tapered casing having an end wall, a conical plug mounted rotatably within the'casing, a valve stem extending through the end wall of the casing and slotted, a spring operatively interposed between the end wall of the casingv casing, a ball race disposed loosely Within the annular flange and provided with an opening through which the Valve stein extends, a ball bearing resting against the ball race, a ring Washer engaged by the ball bearing on theother side, a spring seated on the ring washer, an abutment for the spring comprising a block disposed in the slot and guided thereby, and a thumb screw threaded into the end of the valvestein and engaging the abutment block to permit thel adjustment of the tension of the spring, all of said parts being removable.

This specification signed this 30th day of Sept. A. D. 1915.

PAUL CROVO.

Copies of this patent Vmay be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

